Ministers responsible for tourism of the 21 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) held a retreat session at Vietnam's Quang Nam Province on Monday to prepare for the 4th APEC Tourism Ministerial Meeting (TMM) which will kick off there on Tuesday.

During the session, ministers have listened to reports by the APEC Tourism Working Group (TWG) on the implementation of measures aimed at promoting the APEC Tourism Charter signed in South Korea in 2000. They also discussed initiatives by APEC member economies aimed at beefing up tourism cooperation in the region, and touched upon the content of the Hoi An Declaration on Strengthening APEC Tourism Cooperation.

APEC ministers responsible for tourism have met biennially since 2000 to discuss measures and put forward policies on enhancing tourism development in the region.

(Xinhua News Agency October 17, 2006)